The invention relates to an arrangement for use in a vehicle for monitoring, processing, and recording usage or operatonal information. The invention also relates to an arrangement in a vehicle for authorizing operation of the vehicle by means of a portable, information providing instrument.
Systems are known in the prior art for use in such applications as automobile rental systems, or for the automatic identification and monitoring of specially designated vehicles such as buses, police ares, railroad cars, and aircraft. Such systems utilize relatively simple means in the vehicle, such as a keyboard or card reader for encoding identification or other information for transmission to a remote external location utilizing very high frequency radio or radar transponder communication systems.
Such prior art systems, represented by U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,624,608; 3,665,397 and 3,644,883 are relatively limited in the complexity of the processing function which may be performed in the vehicle itself. The information or data is typically transferred to a large central computer at the remote location from the vehicle for accounting and processing purposes.
Other approaches of the prior art, such as a use of a mini-computer or random digital logic circuit in a vehicle to perform specific control or operational functions would be too expensive or complicated. The relatively high price of minicomputers or random logic implimentation of a control function makes such devices impractical for use in a vehicle. Prior to the present invention it has not been feasible or practical to implement a programmable control system for monitoring, processing, and recording identification, usage, or other operational information in an inexpensive manner in a vehicle.